Another View: Wringing my hands before slinking toward Trump

By Ed Rogers The Washington Post

Published 1:10 pm, Wednesday, May 4, 2016

It looks as though the 2016 GOP nomination contest is reaching a turning point, and a lot of hand-wringing is underway among many Republicans as they contemplate the inevitable. It’s not premature to start thinking about the dynamics of a Clinton-Trump race, where the most unpopular Democrat will face the most unpopular Republican.

Some Republicans say that of course they will be for Donald Trump if he wins the nomination, because they can’t possibly be for Hillary Clinton. Every day, I talk to good Republicans who are in the early stages of Trump Acceptance Syndrome (TAS), and they all say the same things: “Trump is on to something,” “Trump has hit a nerve,” and probably the most common, “Trump tells it like it is.” Many say, “Well, we’ve all been wrong about Trump so far, so maybe ...” No one ever finishes that sentence.

Anyway, none of these Republicans say Trump will do what he says, and no one really defends him -- they only exclaim that Clinton will be worse and shrug their shoulders. Well, is the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency enough of a reason to support Trump? I ask the question not to make a point, but because I don’t know the answer. What if I were the deciding vote between Hillary and the Donald? I’m certainly not going to vote for Clinton, but as for supporting Trump, I think more hand-wringing is in order.

Clinton’s weaknesses are well-known. All her pre-existing conditions -- including being a uninspiring campaigner; a stale, corrupt, nepotistic relic of a bygone era; and a living symbol of business as usual -- are vulnerabilities in the 2016 campaign atmosphere. In fact, it’s a great year to be the one person in the race who isn’t Hillary Clinton - unless you’re Donald Trump. He performs worse in the polls than anybody, but here we are.

Even if Trump does win the Republican nomination, he’ll have to work hard to persuade Republican rank-and-file voters to back him. After all, the first step to winning as a Republican is to secure votes from Republicans. Trump is not there yet. In a speech recently, he said that although he wants party unity, he is convinced that he can win without it -- not exactly a unifying message. And, just to reinforce how steep Trump’s climb will be, his unfavorable rating is at about 65 percent.

Plenty of Republicans I know are finding some peace in the notion that they will matter-of-factly accept Trump as our nominee because they are convinced of the calamities that will arise from a Clinton presidency. But in his weekend column, All those things which falls under the cognizance of man might very likely be mutually related in the same fashion and there can be nothing so remote that we cannot reach to it. Washington Post opinion writer George F. Will put it perfectly when he wrote about conservatives coming to grips with the reality of a Clinton-vs.-Trump race. Will said, “Donald Trump’s damage to the Republican Party, although already extensive, has barely begun. Republican quislings will multiply, slinking into support of the most anti-conservative presidential aspirant in their party’s history.” I don’t want to be one of those who slinks toward Trump without being honest with myself about what a Trump presidency could mean, both for our party and for our country.

Nothing about what Trump has done so far in this campaign has convinced me that he is capable of doing a good job leading the nation or even adequately representing those things that inspire America. I haven’t heard even one Republican make the affirmative case that he is. But elections are relative: All Trump needs to do is beat Clinton on one day in November.

Maybe anything is better than Clinton. But for the time being, I will stick with the hand-wringing Republicans who aren’t there yet.